adamhildreth

I am not questioning any decision on whether you chop a canopy or not, its up to you and you alone, and you should always be making that decision early, rather than late. Below 500 feet is not the time to get panicky about it. But really, you need to find out a bit more about how a canopy is built, and the strength that is built into it. A line that has survived the opening shock and subsequent ride for however long is not likely to suddently snap below 500 feet. Sure it has blown a hole, or maybe a whole panel, but it isn't made of tissue paper and string. A canopy is built with reinforcing tape and doubled seams, and the lines are strong nylon. Once open, the stress on it is constant, and it is unlikely to just unzip, as I've already stated. If you trust your rigger, talk to him about it over a beer.... Knowing how a canopy is built is something every skydiver should know. What do you do with your downtime at the DZ??. I think that is spot on - if you have enough knowledge to know that it's safe to land and will not get worse that puts you in a very different position. At the moment based on my training and knowledge, I would chop it if there was any damage as I simply don't know enough about how it will handle, whether it will get worse etc....

Where did you land

Once you can tell where you will land (the spot that doesn't move) or where you're in the box, I found one of the keys was understanding what you can do with your canopy to 'sort out' the situation on downwind, base and final. It's great knowing you're going to be long or have committed too early but then doing something about it is even better. I've found Brian Germain's book great for talking through all the concepts of canopy flight, but obviously I talked to an instructor before trying any of the methods.

Excellent - really good feedback thanks. Everything else i've heard is that containers generally take a size up and size down from their 'regular' pack. To be honest I would be happy with something that took a 190 and eventually a 170.

Oh sorry I thought I'd posted in a Gear forum where people have a LOT of knowledge on this...? I will call UPT and ask, if however someone does know then please shout.

Hi, I've been looking at the UPT specs on what size canopys you can fit in different vector rigs and I can't find one that fits a 190 tight but will downsize to a 150? Do they do one? I can see 210 to 170. Ideally I'm looking for a container that will fit 190 - 150.

You might want to think through the cloud thing a little bit better as to why a cloud is not going to hurt keeping a heading. You need to look at the horizon... which is where ground/sky meet. Looking at ground only will cause lots of orbiting. My husband and I have tons of skydives as 50 jump wonders that we were orbiting each other, both blaming the other for going in circles That is, until an instructor worked with us on how to know we are holding a heading and not orbiting. Slighly odd reply - i dont 'orbit' or have a turn (according to other 1000+ jumpers), maybe they're wrong but when i keep a heading (without doing RW) i have to pick a place on the ground not the Sky, as close the horizon as possible. Am i wrong?

Hmm when you say you can't keep a heading looking at the ground - I'm not sure of any other way!!! i don't look directly down but you have enough peripheral vision to take a point on the ground (in the distance) to take a heading! Taking a heading on a moving cloud would be interesting :-).

Hi, Can someone clarify the rules in the UK on jumping with others whilst on an A Licence without FS1. I'm only one jump off FS1 but just wanted clarity on whether you can only jump with a Coach or maybe C Licence holder etc? Adam.

So I did another 12 minutes in the tunnel and low and behold I managed to relax from the off and everything clicked! I passed every test and even moved onto advanced moves. Thanks so much for the advice hopefully I can take this into my AFF course! The advice regarding relaxed body and hands really made sense by the way, the breathing stuff is still something to work on One question I do have, do the skills you learn in the tunnel translate directly to free fall or are there suttle differences in body position?

Hi Everyone, I'm just about to start on my AFF course having done 4 working tandems, i've also just completed 10 minutes in a wind tunnel which went pretty badly with regards to body position. I'm constantly read and being told by my instrutor that 'relaxing' is the key but i wondered whether anyone had any advice on what to do to relax. Asking someone to just relax is hard :-). I'm guessing it likes a lot of things and eventually it just clicks, at which time you naturally relax and get better and better! So does anyone have any words of wisdom on tips for relaxing? Adam.